Star Rangers (Central Control, Bk. 1)

Star Rangers (1953) is a standalone SF novel in the Central Control universe. This novel was also reprinted as The Last Planet. It takes place near the end of the first empire, when even the Stellar Patrol is falling apart from lack of equipment and supplies. One aspiring tyrant helps his prospects by sending the Patrol Scoutship Starfire into the hinterland of the galaxy. In this novel, the Starfire has crashed on an uncharted planet. The ship is broken beyond the crew's ability to fix it. At least the world is Arth type, so the crew and rangers can breath its air. Ranger Zinga even gorged on the local water creatures and found them nonpoisonous and tasty. Exploring the unknown world, Ranger Rolth discovers a beacon light in the night. The armsmen convert the ranger sled to use a disrupter power pack and Ranger Sergeant Kartr and Ranger Rolth take it to discover the source of the beacon. They find a highly advanced city with working power sources and robotic guards. Unfortunately, the city is occupied by the survivors of the Nyorai X451. The passenger ship had been attacked by pirates and only escaped by fleeing in overdrive. Damage to the ship caused it to become lost in uncharted space. After all the fuel was consumed, the ship was forced to land on this unknown planet. Joyd Cummi, Vice-Sector Lord of Agerat, is the leader of the survivors. He is a sensitive who tries, and fails, to penetrate Sergeant Kartr's mindshield. Kartr and Rolth evade Cummi's questions and are driven back to the vicinity of the sled by a Can-hound, a psychic tool of the Vice-Sector Lord. Kartr alters the Can-hound's memory and leaves him in the car. The rangers then return to the sled and fly back to their camp. When Kartr reports to the acting-Captain, Jaksan doesn't understand Kartr's qualms about joining the ship survivors and orders the Patrolmen into the city. In this story, Kartr finds his fears to be realistic. From various sources, Kartr learns that Cummi has several well armed guards. Also, the ship had been carrying alien passengers, but they vanished before the landing. Now the Vice-Sector Lord has established his own little kingdom and Bemmies are not allowed to join. Since two of the rangers -- Zinga and Fylh -- are aliens, Kartr seeks permission to house his rangers in a corner tower. Kartr also has them stay out of sight in the new quarters. Smitt -- their com-techneer -- soon visits them with news and requests to join their group, but Kartr sends him back to contact the opposition. Zinga is a Zacathan -- a reptilian species -- and also has some mind powers. Although he has not previously displayed his powers, Zinga now discloses some of his mind talents to protect the rangers. Luckily, Cummi is not aware of his mental powers. This story is a tale of the fall of the first empire, but it also has some information about the founding of the empire. As in many of the author's works, this planet has the ruins and remnants of an

The first galactic empire is in decline. The crew of the Vegan scout ship Starfire has been dismissed under the guise of orders sending them to the far-flung reaches of the empire to re-map long forgotten galactic border systems. Away from any possibility of real repairs, their ship, running low on fuel and supplies and held together with little more than duct tape and binder twine, crash lands on a remote planet that doesn't even appear on their maps. The Patrol, Starfire's actual pilots and space crew plus the accompanying Rangers, land-based explorers, scouts and foot soldiers, now reduced to a wounded ragtag group of humans and aliens frequently in conflict with one another over racial, species, social and class issues, find themselves marooned on a planet that holds a bizarre blend of long-abandoned technology and a small native population that has barely advanced beyond primitive wilderness skills. During the exploration of a sprawling ghost city, they encounter Cummi, a similarly stranded Arcturan, who has the telepathic ability to control minds and is clearly bent on dominating the populace and the planet. Now the crew must find the physical and mental strength to come together as a team, overcome their differences and prevail in an epic battle to defeat the common enemy. A casual read of this splendid tale will take the reader through an enjoyable fast paced adventure replete with the stock in trade of hard core 1950s pulp science fiction - blasters, disrupters, rockets, anti-gravity, aliens, galactic empires, inter-stellar travel, androids, near miraculous medical techniques like "renewer rays", traction beams (come to think of it, it sounds like a pretty fine pre-cursor to Star Trek)! But, take a second look! In 1953, only one year after Rosa Parks became known as the founder of the US Civil Rights movement by her courageous refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, Norton has taken the pioneering step of exploring prejudice and race issues in the context of a science fiction novel. Zinga, a member of the reptilian Zacathans, and Fylh, a bird-like Tristian, encounter the hatred and mistrust of small-minded humans who lump all aliens into the category "Bemmies". Similarly, the land-based Rangers are all too aware that the space-focused Patrol holds them in contempt and perceives itself to be the elite of the Central Control. Telepathic mind control and the use of empathic abilities to perceive a person's emotional state are explored both as weapons and a means of enhancing a deeper, more complete level of communication. The "sensitives" who have this ability are feared by both humans and aliens alike who have a desperate fear of losing their minds to some sort of mental incursion. Deep stuff, indeed, and my only criticism of this particular novel is that Norton didn't take the time to explore these compelling issues much more deeply. The novel is a short one and is finished all too quickly but, as a classic, it certainly deserve

It always confused me that Andre Norton's first novel about the Stellar Patrol (1953) should deal with its demise. For that is what this excellently crafted novel deals with, the end of that noble service after 1000 years as guardians of peace and order in the First Galactic Empire. It is a time of decadence and dissolution in the Empire. Sector wars are carrying off more and more worlds from Central Control. Individual bureaucrats are usurping their positions to carve out private kingdoms. Only the incorruptible Patrol and its Code remain to stand in their way. Yet, the Patrol has seen better days. Their ships are old and there are no replacements- only cannibalization keeps them running. The supply ships come less and less often. Communications between sectors- and with Central Control itself is breaking down. There are fewer and fewer new recruits. The only thing still as strong as ever is the dedication, honor, and tradition of the Patrol. Specifically, this is the story of the last voyage of the Vegan Scout, Starfire. She was sent on a final, futile mission, along with her sister ships to remap and rediscover forgotten worlds near the galactic rim. In reality, she has been sent out by an ambitious Imperial bureaucrat to die- yet due to their ancient trust and loyalty the patrol obeys. Her Patrol crewmen and elite Rangers (think of them as Marine Scouts, but with finely trained telepathic powers) finally crash land on a world so ancient that all record of it has been lost. But sometimes endings come full circle- and beginnings are found and restored.... If there had been no other creator of hard science fiction, or of fantasy, in the second half of the 20th century, Andre Norton would have been enough.

Blasters, rocket ships, and Space Patrols became staples of science fiction very early in its life as a separate genre, usually used in rather poor, pulp-level stories that were often nothing more than Westerns translated to outer space. But Norton took these common elements and added her own special flavor, and the result is a very satisfying adventure that truly qualifies as 'real' science fiction, one that will tickle that 'sense of wonder' that is such a prime requisite for imaginative fiction.In the waning days of a vast interstellar empire, a lone ship of the Patrol crash lands on a minor, very out of the way planet. Quickly scouting around their crash site, they find evidence of a long vanished high tech civilization in the Sealed Cities, along with nomadic hunter-gatherer level groups of humans. Looking for better shelter to tend their injured personnel, the rangers enter one of the cities, only to find it occupied by another group of refugees and ruled by the Acturian Cummi, a master telepath, one who is not above overpowering and directly controlling other peoples minds, who is bent on becoming the sole ruler of the planet. Zinga, a member of the ancient historian race of Zacathans (a reptilian race that populates many of Norton's science fiction works), and the human Kartr, both high order telepaths themselves, though not of the strength of Cummi, end up in a memorable mental battle with Cummi. The result of this battle and its aftermath lead to a very surprising and exciting ending, one that has resonated in my mind for forty years. Norton's work with the telepath aspect was unusual at the time of this book's writing (1953), showing measurable grading of telepathic ability, the dirty, nasty possibilities that such a talent engenders, the intriguing invention of the Can-hound as an android built for external mental control, and the indication that telepaths would not automatically form a society onto themselves, but might still be the object of unreasonable prejudice. She also strikes an accurate note in her depictions of the traditions and customs of the Patrol and the alienation that outsiders to that heritage can be made to feel. Her characterizations of Kartr and Zinga, while not excessively deep, are more than adequate to allow the reader to become engrossed in their problems and actions.A grand adventure yarn, with more than a bit of meaning, depth, and moral injunctions hiding behind the fast pace. This is Norton at her best.

Star Rangers was written in 1953, reissued in 1985, and at one time had the title of "The Last Planet" but the context of the story could fit in tomorrows worlds. Of all the SF I have read, it had the most lasting effects. A dying society retreating from tryanny finds an incredible discovery on a planet they know little, if anything, about. The ENDING is explosive and will never leave your thoughts, especially when you view the stars at night. I equate this Story along the lines and equal to Starship Troopers!